Love & War 1b: Spectator Sport DISCONTINUED
by scribblemyname
Summary: Emma's playing matchmaker. Logan wants revenge. All's fair in love and war. Companion piece to All's Fair. Just one more chapter to catch up. CONTINUED WITH IN LOVE AND WAR.
1. The Queen's Gambit

Don't own it. Love it. Require reader participation to reproduce exact accents. You know the drill.

Thank you for all the feedback on All's Fair about the Emma/Logan idea. Here's where I get to focus on the spectators to the events of that fic and we'll see if those two become friends or less or more. Ought to be fun.

_Aide vous-même._ - Help yourself.

* * *

**Important information about Chess:**

Chess is played on ranks and files. Ranks are numbered 1 - 8 from the White's back to the Black's back. Files are numbered a - h from the White's left to the White's right.

The Queens occupy the file of d and the Kings the file of e. Queenside pieces are on files a - d; Kingside pieces are on files e - h.

NOTATION:

b = black, w = white

Q = queenside (from player's perspective at start), K = kingside (from player's perspective at start)

Q = queen, K = king, R = rook, N = knight, B = bishop, no notation = pawn

[a]# = board position (file and rank) the piece moves to

[a]x# = means board file a pawn moves from while capturing and its final board position

x# = means board position a piece moves to while capturing

**Keep this in mind for reference, please!**

* * *

**Spectator Sport**

**-**

_All's fair in love and war._

_-_

**Chapter One: **

**The Queen's Gambit**

**-**

In chess, White always plays first. Please welcome the White Queen...

-

_The Queen's Gamibt is a chess opening consisting of three moves.  
A gambit involves the sacrifice of material, usually one or more pawns._

_-_

White 1st Play: wd4

_The pawn that occupies the position in front of the White Queen is moved forward two spaces._

Emma Frost frowned at Logan's nonchalant reaction as he sat at the kitchen table, smoking a cigar and playing solitaire late at night. She had just brought up his intolerable behavior toward Rogue, and he had, in effect, brushed her off.

"Logan," she tried again. "You do know she's fuming."

"Good," he mumbled around the cigar.

She waved off some of the smoke. "At YOU, Logan! Not Gambit!"

Logan eyed her while still looking over his cards. "He deserved it."

"_She_ made the bet!" Emma pointed out yet again. "She's the one who put that on the table."

"Like I'm supposed to let him see her like that."

"It was her night clothes, Logan. Not her underwear." Emma crossed her arms. "Though the way you're going on about it, you'd have thought it was going to be naked."

_That _finally got his attention. He growled at her, matching it with a deadly glare.

She tapped her foot impatiently. "She decided to play poker with him because she had a crush on him. It's the _first_ time she's shown interest in anyone since Bobby. And about time, too."

"If you expect me to agree with you, doll, you might as well give up now."

"Oh, come on!" She sat down across from him, sacrificing a tiny bit in dignity to put them on equal footing. "He's also the only one creative enough to get around her mutation."

"Just keep talking." Logan played down another card. "Give me another reason to skewer him."

Emma grinned. He'd played right into her gambit. "I've got a better idea."

He grunted, indicating she should continue.

"Imagine this." She trailed one finger across the table while imagining it herself. "Gambit completely at Rogue's mercy for a month. She _is_ fuming, remember."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "And how do you intend to pull this off?"

"Rematch."

Logan's eyebrows shot up. "You were there, right? You saw her get stomped into the dust on the poker table."

Rogue was a decent poker player, even a good one, but she had been no match for the Prince of Thieves. He'd wiped the table with the three opponents before Rogue, and took in quite a pot. Rogue had figured she'd lose, so she made sure she bet something that might get his attention anyway: a look at her nightclothes.

Emma, Jubilee, Kitty, and even Ororo pitched in to help her find the perfect set that wouldn't get Logan's claws out and that _would_ atract Remy's interest. They'd found a lovely burgundy lace negligee that hinted instead of displayed.

Logan had Remy up by the claws when he found out.

So Rogue had lost the game _and_ the opportunity. And in the way of illogical teenage girls, she blamed Gambit.

If Emma could get the two together for that long _and_ appease Logan's ideas of revenge, then she would be way ahead of the game in matching up the charming Gambit with the elusive Rogue.

"We'll train her," she insisted to Logan's skeptical expression. "You've been playing for a century, more or less, and can teach her the game and strategy. And I'll teach her all I know about people reading, tells, and bluffs. Give us a year and no one'll be able to beat her."

Logan scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Rematch, huh?"

Emma smirked. "A month of slavery for the Ragin' Cajun. What do you say?"

"I think..." A slow, wicked grin spread across Logan's face. "I like it."

* * *

Black 1st Play: be4

_The pawn that occupies the position in front of the Black Queen is moved forward two spaces. Final position is in front of 1st play white pawn._

Logan had no problem meeting Emma's challenge. He corralled the angry Rogue, who had taken to beating the mess out of his punching bag in her off hours, and fed her a few lies about not knowing that she had put in that bet, figuring Gambit was up to his usual stuff. She didn't believe him, but she wasn't supposed to. She was just supposed to calm down enough to listen to the plan.

She did.

She blinked. Her green eyes widened and her mouth formed a small 'o.'

"You think it'll work?" she asked him, all innocence and beauty.

Did Emma really think he'd ever leave _his_ girl to a guy like Gambit?

"Yeah, kid. We'll have you playing like a pro."

Rogue was in.

* * *

White 2nd Play: wc4

_The white pawn that occupies the position in front of the white Queenside Bishop is moved forward two spaces. Final position is next to 1st play white pawn and katticorner to 1st play black pawn._

Rogue had no problem sacrificing her social life to poker training for twelve months. Which meant the social life entered poker training.

Jubilee was a natural. No one could determine anything around that crackling bubble of gum Logan kept telling her to remove.

Kitty was always too serious, but Emma liked to leave scorekeeping to the otherwise untalented (in poker, that is) phaser.

Siryn tended to squeal too much, but she could pull off some marvelous bluffs, even getting the other players to fold when she carried a total mismatched set that would've been high card at best. (Her high card was a ten).

Dazzler was exceptional with her technical skill, but the quieter she got the better her hand. Her real poker face only kicked in at Full House or better.

Rhane would've been a nice partner, except she ate all the refreshments. So they made her bring her own.

All in all, Emma had a nice crew to work with and soon Rogue could read the expression off a stone. Logan taught them the skills, and Rogue was a natural. Eventually, it would be Jubilee and Rogue playing their final chips with Emma and Logan.

It wasn't until all parties had lost out consistently to Rogue that they deemed her ready.

In all that time, they kept Gambit unaware by feeding him the female attention of aforementioned social life. Dazzler even got his name out of him (Emma did _not _want to know under what circumstances): Remy LeBeau. Emma felt a bit aggrieved at this development, seeing as this whole thing was a matchmaking plot for her, but it was worth the gambit.

She threw Rogue to the wolves.

Well, Gambit.

* * *

_The Albin Countergambit is one of Black's possible Defenses against the Queen's Gambit.  
It also offers to sacrifice a pawn in the interests of a better positional play._

Black 2nd Play: be5

_The black pawn in front of the King moves forward two spaces. Final position is next to 1st play black pawn and katticorner to 1st play white pawn. All four pawns are in a position to capture._

Gambit took the bait. Rogue. A slave. For a month.

His red eyes had practically glowed with barely disguised delight.

Logan felt like skewering him on the spot, especially remembering Emma's comments about the romantic potential of this, but he was assuaged by the dangerous gleam in Rogue's eye.

This was about revenge.

So he contentedly played ref alongside the White Queen, who made no bones about reading their minds to ensure no cheating. Of course, she herself wasn't allowed to help either side.

Logan was surprised Remy agreed to the terms. Normally, the Cajun vehementally blocked out any telepathic activity, but he lowered his shields and said, "_Aide vous-même_, Queenie," earning a glare from Emma over the nickname.

Logan noticed the instant everything changed.

Remy narrowed his eyes at his cards, the chips, Rogue. "Just wondering what you're up to, Chere."

Rogue laughed wickedly. "I'm out to win."

And win she did, much to both Logan and Remy's shock. Logan was positively delighted, even if he hadn't realized she was _that_ good.

This was about revenge. And Remy LeBeau, the Prince of Thieves, the Gambit, the King of Hearts was about to pay up.

* * *

White 3rd Play: wdxe5

_The 1st play white pawn moves to the 2nd play black pawn position, thus capturing the black pawn._

Both parties played their gambits. White took Remy's and he lost his free status for thirty-one days.

Emma Frost was counting on her chess skills, where both of the men were thinking in terms of poker. If she played this right, Logan would think that their own side was winning, but Remy's gambit would pay off anyway.

After all, it was an excellent Black defense.

* * *

_A defense is any opening made by Black._


	2. Albin Countergambit Main Line

A/N: I'm SORRY it took so long, y'all. I can only tell you that I tried. I wrote this baby out a couple times (Fritz more) and scrapped it 'cause it just wasn't working. Finally, I went and grabbed my shell from All's Fair and started finding the holes and what happened around the scenes. Let me know if it works, if there's anything from All's Fair you want to see about over here, or any character's opinion you particularly want.

And thanks for the reviews, guys! Responses below.

* * *

All's Fair is your all time favorite, coup fatal? How sweet! I'm tickled. I'm awed. (Even if I know you now like Son o' de Guild even better.) Thanks for giving me a kick in the butt on this fic. I couldn't give up on it since I knew _you_ would be waiting...

I am SO going to use this idea of Rogue sleeping, RogueOnFire. Coming soon to an All's Fair chapter near you... You have the BEST ideas. I think Sunday is going to be a delightful adventure, but first :grumble, grumble, growl: I have to catch this baby up to the other. It'll be eons easier if I write them side by side.

Know what you mean about not being a chess person, Green Peridot. I'm not either, so this is hard stuff. (Glad it did work, ChamberlinofMusic.) But Emma _is_ a chess person and it just sort of...happened. But I lucked out. I totally forgot that the boys are _lousy_ chess players, so this won't be quite as hard on the research end as I thought. (I think.) :looks very worried: And don't worry, Chamberlin. There will be plenty more "depth and deception" in "a hilarious situation." :grins:

Laceylou76, you are music to my ears. When I write a pairing someone _doesn't_ like and they like it, I'd call that success! As for updating...

Update all fics? Yeah, well, um... Did I ever tell you that it takes just a little bit to hop between the genres and actually pull out another 10,000 words to cover new chapters for ALL the fics. I'll hurry, but I'm trying not to sacrifice quality.

**starlight2twilight  
"OMG. OMG. OMG! What a unique concept for a story. This is living proof that all the best ideas are not gone. "**

And y'all, that was the crowning review this time. I'm humbly grateful for such kind words. (Actually, I think it goes more like squealing like Kitty or Jubilee and dancing on the table top, but you get the idea...) :grins:

* * *

_Dans Court du Roi _- In the King's Court

_Chaton _- Kitten

* * *

**Important information about Chess:**

Chess is played on ranks and files. Ranks are numbered 1 - 8 from the White's back to the Black's back. Files are numbered a - h from the White's left to the White's right.

The Queens occupy the file of d and the Kings the file of e. Queenside pieces are on files a - d; Kingside pieces are on files e - h.

NOTATION:

b = black, w = white

Q = queenside (from player's perspective at start), K = kingside (from player's perspective at start)

Q = queen, K = king, R = rook, N = knight, B = bishop, no notation = pawn

[a]# = board position (file and rank) the piece moves to

[a]x# = means board file a pawn moves from while capturing and its final board position

x# = means board position a piece moves to while capturing

**Keep this in mind for reference, please!**

* * *

**Spectator Sport**

**-**

_All's fair in love and war._

_-_

**Chapter Two: **

**Albin Countergambit Main Line**

**-**

The goal of a good chess opening is to create a good pawn skeleton  
and to introduce some major pieces to the opposition

-

_The Albin Countergambit has various continuations in the opening  
The main line allows the introduction of the knights into play_

_-_

Black 3rd Play: bd4

_The remaining black pawn in the center moves forward one space, closer to the White Queen. Final board position is beside the second white pawn and two spaces in front of the White Queen._

**Day One, 4th Hour, 1st Minute**

Emma Frost paced back and forth in her study, glancing every so often at the clock on the corner of her desk. They had precisely one half hour to do this, and Rogue was late.

Emma sighed, rubbing her temples, and sat down behind the desk. Working with Rogue on the psychic end of her powers was perhaps the most difficult, dangerous thing Emma ever had to do. Whoever thought that the girl would be practically homicidal if you dared to mess with her biggest problems, namely the psyches? Emma frowned thoughtfully. Actually Rogue could turn violent any time she was feeling scared or vulnerable and someone tried to help her.

That had to be some kind of a complex.

The minute hand hit the 02.

The frown deepened. Rogue was late.

Finally, the study door opened and a smiling, humming brunette with white locks tracing the front of her hair stepped into the lair of the White Queen.

"About time you showed up," Emma rebuked regally. She indicated the chair in front of her desk. "Sit."

Rogue sat, looking rather regal herself. And happy.

"Having fun with Gambit?" Emma aksed, raising a brow.

Rogue grinned. "Not yet, but I will."

"I'm sure." With a sigh, Emma got down to business. "Back into the strange land of your mind."

"It's not strange."

"Yes, dear. It is." Rogue had no idea just how unique of an experience this had been for Emma.

Emma had, in fact, been hired by Storm specifically to help the young mutant in front of her. It was through these sessions that the two had become friends, in spite of the drastic age difference, seeing as Rogue was barely into her twenties and Emma was from the same graduating class as Ororo and Jean. And Scott.

And these sessions were technically the reason that Emma had allowed herself to start this whole plan with get-the-girl-a-boyfriend. Her conditioning needed to be undone as quickly as Emma could find a way through it and she had the distinct feeling that Remy would be just the thing.

Prescription: One Remy to be taken daily for thirty-one days.

If only he knew.

Emma raised her hands to her head, shut her eyes, and reached out to Rogue's mind. "I hope you've redecorated to something more organized," she said at the last moment.

Rogue's mindscape expressed differently on every visit. So far, small, cozy, and poorly decorated seemed to be Rogue's forte. A combination Emma _hated_.

Emma instantly found herself in a lush, overgrown, jumbly garden, the air rich and humid, not a psyche in sight.

She groaned. This was definitely worse.

* * *

White 4th Play: wKNf3

_The white Kingside knight moves forward three spaces and left one. Final board position is in front of the pawns and in a position to capture Black's pawn on d4 and guards the white pawn on e5._

**Day One, 5th Hour, 29th Minute**

Jubilee and Rahne were both curled up asleep in their warm covers. It was _very_ early in the morning. They didn't have to be up. Ever since Logan took over training sessions in the Danger Room, instead of Scott, they weren't dragged from their beds at unholy hours to go fight.

Kitty snuggled deep into her pillow in the adjoining room. Rogue was invisible beneath the covers. Next door on the other side, Siryn and Dazzler (did those girls _ever _use their _actual_ names?) were dreaming of ice cream and boys and...well, on Dazzler's part at least, some _strange_ things regarding said ice cream and boys. Across the hall, Laura aka X-23 slept sprawled across her own bed in the room she _didn't_ share, blissfully unaware of the danger lurking and getting ready to spring.

The clock turned its hands to 5:30. One second passed. Two seconds passed.

Kitty's phone rang.

A blaring, jarring, thoroughly waking rendition of "Rehab" sang outward through the walls of Rogue and Kitty's room, waking Jubilee and Rahne (Rahne fell out of the bed), slashing through Dazzler's decidedly strange (if interesting) dream and through Siryn's decidedly less strange dream, and rousing a growling, snarling Laura from her bed. X-23 raised her arms and released her claws, fully intent on wreaking real damage on the offensive, disgusting, blaring ringtone.

Rogue threw a book at Kitty's head.

"Ow!" The phaser woke, grabbed the phone from Rogue's threatening clasp, and answered breathily. "Hello?" She managed to infuse an incredible amount of irritation into her sleepy voice.

In the hallway, a growling Rahne had joined a prowling Laura. Jubilee had acquired a hefty textbook in lieu of better missiles. Dazzler came out swinging a pillow.

"We on?"

"Yes," Siryn behind her hissed out high-pitch between her teeth. She looked ready to scream at their resident bubbly Kitten, and probably, that's exactly what she intended to do.

The girls converged upon the door.

An ear-splitting shriek came from Rogue and sailed out through the closed door. They all stopped, looking around in confusion. Rogue? Had she really just...shrieked?

Laura recovered first, narrowing her eyes at invisible Kitty. She raised her claws again and started toward the door.

The door flung open, knocking Dazzler clear into Siryn and sent them tumbling in a heap, almost hitting Laura, who quickly retracted her claws.

Rogue stood in the doorway, drawn up like a queen, her green eyes flashing fire, and her leather outfit lending a dangerous air to her person. Her hair had flown about briefly with the force of her exit and it only added to the angry effect.

She looked around at the girls, stepped haughtily forward with vengeance gleaming in her eye, then tossed back over her shoulder, "She's all yours."

Siryn rubbed her arm. "Ow."

Laura returned her gaze to the nervous-looking Kitty on her bed.

"Uh." Kitty glanced uncertainly between all the threatening, dangerous glares coming her way. "Hi, guys."

SNICK.

* * *

Black 4th Play: bQNc6

_Black's Queenside knight moves forward three spaces and one towards the center. Final position is in front of the black pawns and in a position to capture the white pawn on e5 and guards the black pawn on d4. It is a mirror response to the previous White play._

**Day One, 5th Hour, 40th Minute**

Kitty fell through the floor, through the room below her and its obviously sleeping occupant, through their floor, and into the kitchen on top of Remy LeBeau.

"_Rien, Chaton!_"

She tumbled off of him and endured his blazing glare, red eyes afire with a luminous glow. "Uh...sorry." She heard something and looked up to see the firing squad coming down the stairs. She squeaked and jumped behind Remy, grabbing hold of his shirt. "Save me!"

His stare turned incredulous and he muttered something darkly in what was probably shocking French.

Laura stalked forward, leading the pack, with her claws raised.

Remy shook his head and held up a hand for the girls to stop. Miraculously, they did.

"You are now in _dans court du roi_," he stated calmly. "Why do you want to slaughter the _chaton_?"

"Her ringtone," Siryn replied with narrow eyes.

"Waking us up, dude." Jubilee swung her pillow menacingly. "Totally uncool."

Dazzler crossed her arms. "Ignoring our previous warnings."

Laura didn't bother to reply, choosing instead to glare at the target in question.

Remy's hand snaked back, wrapped around Kitty's elbow, and to her surprise, yanked her out from behind him. His crimson eyes were calmer now, but still glowed dangerously. "How do you plead? Innocent or guilty?"

"Uh..." She stared at him. "All those charges?"

"_Oui_."

She lifted her chin a little. He didn't have to be so...Remy about this. Hmph! "It was _your_ fault. You called me."

Laura narrowed her eyes at Remy.

He smirked at Kitty. "Change your ringtone."

"But I _like—_" The glares returned to her, and Kitty bit off the rest of her words. "Yeah, sure, no problem."

Remy shook his head at her. "Case dismissed," he said with a wave of his hand and gently shoved Kitty out of the kitchen. "I've work to do."

Kitty huffed and headed for the stairs. The nerve!

Her reluctantly not-firing squad trooped behind her.

* * *

White 5th Play: wg3

_The white pawn formerly in front of White's Kingside knight moves forward one space in preparation for a Kingside bishop fianchetto. Final position is next to the active white knight._

**Day One, 5th Hour, 40th Minute**

Rogue enjoyed taking Logan down way too much and this kind of Danger Room session, the kind where she was _supposed_ to practice skin-on-skin contact made it just too much fun.

While they engaged in a bare-handed wrestling match, for all intents and purposes, him stopping on occasion to gasp for air, Rogue sent a thought loudly in the direction of the female staff dorms.

_Emma?_

An extremely grumpy, sleepy voice finally entered her head on the third try. _You rang?_

_I'd like to schedule a shopping trip with the girls. No lingerie._ Rogue dodged Logan's attack._ It's supposed to be torture for Remy._

_What did he do this time, the little rat? _Emma sounded delightedly appreciative and much more awake.

Rogue giggled, swinging out with a left upper cut, then landing a punch in Logan's gut. _Yeah, he is a swamp rat, isn't he?_ she thought wickedly. _He asked what I _wasn't_ wearing while I was getting dressed._

A moment of silence._ Hold, please._

Hold? Rogue giggled again and Logan glared at her.

"You think this is funny?"

"Hilarious," she agreed, leaping out with a series of kicks, then rolling under his block to land a touch on his arm again.

He staggered back and yanked his arm away. But he was beginning to weaken.

_Okay, I'm back._ Emma sounded slightly ruffled. _They know. I've lined up Jubilee who has a new credit card._

Rogue snickered at that to Logan's incredulous gaze.

He landed a blow on her. She returned the favor.

_Kitty says she needs a new wardrobe and her parents are paying. Of course, I'm coming to supervise._

_We don't need a chaperone, Ems_, Rogue replied with mental chagrin.

Logan successfully tackled her to the ground. They grappled for a moment.

_Of course, you do,_ Emma answered dismissively. _It's a guy._

They rolled apart and Logan launched at her. Rogue swung out of the way.

_Besides I told all the girls to go anywhere they wanted in the mall, to buy a minimum of five bags each, and if they ran out, _I'll_ cover the cost. And we have Kitty's surprise birthday party to shop for, don't we?_

Rogue could feel Emma's wicked grin. She launched into a furious counterattack.

At the momentary silence, the White Queen slipped into her mind, no doubt to check out what was going on. Emma sniffed in disdain. _Oh, and please tell that knuckledheaded, badly in need of fashion assistance _mentor_ of yours that we'll meet after ten to go over your training notes._

_I don't know, Ems. He's got that bad boy thing going for him. I kind of like the look_.

He had regained his distance and an almost equal footing. He'd hold out longer if she'd stop touching him, or at least, start trying not to drain him like she was _supposed_ to be trying.

A mental growl. _No doubt_, came out with all the clipped iciness of the original _real_ voice of the White Queen.

Rogue snickered at oblivious Logan's expense.

_I think_... She launched into a final flip and tuck and grab him around the wrist as he was reaching for her. _I win._

_Of course, you do_, Emma replied. _We women always do._

Rogue stared at Logan passed out beneath her.

_Perhaps. But what do I do with the body?_

* * *

_Fianchetto means to move the bishop into play beside the file a knight resides on.  
This allows the bishop a long diagonal to cover and usually in a protected position._


	3. Fianchetto

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry that this took so long to write! It finally came when I decided to go write _All's Fair_ instead. I've just got to get through one more day on this fic before I update that one. Sorry, sorry. The inspiration just wasn't there. I scrapped so many drafts of this chapter, it wasn't even funny.

For exact day (in relation to the slavery) and time (in 24 hr military format) will be in bold at the top of each scene.

French translation(s):

_"Est-ce que je pourrais dormir?"_ - Could I sleep?

* * *

Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed! My heart is glad for all the laughs. I'm glad I didn't rush out this chapter though, so you can really laugh some more. Thanks to Laceylou76 who told me not to sacrifice quality (and that you really liked the fighting scene), to coup fatal who informed me that _All's Fair _could and should wait until this baby came together, to RogueOnFire who helped me with formatting, made me smile, and remember to tell y'all that a story called _Asylum_ (currently on hiatus) inspired me to include X-23, to starlight2twilight who loves my Emma :huge grin:, and last, but definitely not least, to the ChamberlinofMusic who was inspired and laughing to my hearts content!

:virtual hugs to all:

And here it finally is. :sighs in relief:

* * *

**Important information about Chess:**

Chess is played on ranks and files. Ranks are numbered 1 - 8 from the White's back to the Black's back. Files are numbered a - h from the White's left to the White's right.

The Queens occupy the file of d and the Kings the file of e. Queenside pieces are on files a - d; Kingside pieces are on files e - h.

NOTATION:

b = black, w = white

Q = queenside (from player's perspective at start), K = kingside (from player's perspective at start)

Q = queen, K = king, R = rook, N = knight, B = bishop, no notation = pawn

[a]# = board position (file and rank) the piece moves to

[a]x# = means board file a pawn moves from while capturing and its final board position

x# = means board position a piece moves to while capturing

**Keep this in mind for reference, please!**

* * *

**Spectator Sport**

**-**

_All's fair in love and war._

_-_

**Chapter Three: **

**Fianchetto**

**-**

The White Kingside Bishop comes neatly into play,  
an important addition to a pawn skeleton.

-

_In chess the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein  
a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file,  
the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward_.

_-_

Black 5th Play: bQBe6

_The black Queenside bishop moves three spaces along the diagonal into a defensive position. Final board position is in front of the first white pawn and two spaces in front of the Black King._

**Day One, 10th Hour, 1st Minute**

Logan had fully recovered by the end of his breakfast with the shamelessly grinning and unrepentant Rogue. Then she was off to go teach a bunch of thirteen year olds how to speak their own language (a lost cause if you asked Logan) and he was off to talk to Emma Frost, a person he'd rather _not_ talk to most days.

He didn't bother knocking on her office door, just opened it and went in.

Emma was holding a pencil, pressing the end against the corner of her mouth, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully at the piece of paper in her hand. "Looking well," she said drily.

"Very funny," Logan said as he stomped over to a chair and sat down. "She didn't even try today."

Emma sniffed. "I noticed."

He eyed her up. "And how would you _notice_?"

She rolled her eyes. "I _can_ go telepathically check on you whenever I feel like." She set down the paper and the pencil and settled back. "Anything important happen?"

Logan pulled out a cigar and settled back himself. "Not unless you count me getting drained and passing out."

The White Queen's eyebrows shot up nearly to her hairline. "She really _didn't_ try, did she?" No use giving away everything, she figured, even if she already knew about that. Especially with Logan feeling borderline homicidal.

He merely grunted and blew out some smoke. "You?"

"Oh, she tried all right." She grimaced. "I made the mistake of saying something that must have hurt a little psyche's poor feelings and was promptly and painfully evicted without warning." She rubbed her temples. "Still have a headache from that."

Logan watched Emma shake her head at the memory. "Meaning?"

"It has to be a complex. She overreacts any time I dare to interfere with the psyches." She leaned back and stared solemnly at Logan. "She probably needs to get laid."

Logan's claws came out, accompanied by a low growl.

"Seriously, Logan." The White Queen deigned to explain. "She needs to _touch_. And not just you. As long as she _sees_ her skin as a weapon, that is _exactly_ what it will remain."

"Don't know what else you could call it, Queenie," he replied flatly.

"_Skin!_"

"Don't know what this has to do with the psyches."

Emma frowned. "I'm not sure I do either."

"Nice." Logan stood. "Look. You figure out her head. I'll figure out her touch. Got it?"

"Unfortunately for you, Logan," Emma said with a glare, "The two _are_ related. Got it?"

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"I think this bet will be good for her," she went on.

Logan threw back his head and laughed. "Of course, it will. But not for the reasons you're thinking."

Anything to see Gumbo bending over and actually putting in an _effort_ to things. Rogue was perfect for the job, just the right combination of mean and sweet. He was going to _enjoy_ this.

"But it doesn't have anything to do with her gaining control."

"How do you know, Logan?" Emma replied enigmatically. "It just might."

* * *

White 6th Play: wKNd2

_The white Kingside knight moves left two spaces and back one. Final board position is in front of the White Queen and katticorner to the White King._

**Day One, 16th Hour, 29th Minute**

Sam Guthrie, Bobby Drake, Piotr Rasputin, and Sean Cassidy carefully gathered their ranks, swallowed their pride, and prepared to darken the entrance to an entire floor at Nordstrom's dedicated to the female shopper.

Sam shifted a little nervously. "Isn't there a better way to shop for Kitty's party?"

"This is my girlfiriend," Piotr reminded him. "And what she wants is up here."

Bobby nodded sagely, having had a girlfriend before and in process of gaining another one, namely Lorna Dane.

Sean stepped forward. "Let's just do this."

And so the four courageous males braved a purely female section of the mighty store. And stopped gaping at the women's clothes.

Gambit (Oh, how the mighty have fallen!) was in the middle of the section, being run ragged by three girls and their teacher, Emma Frost.

Rogue was carefully flipping through shirts on a rack, holding one up now and then to get an opinion. Remy would nod or shake his head and then get yanked over this way by Jubilee and another clothing item would be added to the teetering mound on his left arm. Then Kitty would shout something and Remy would go trucking around, fish something off another rack, and take it back to hand to her. Emma kept grabbing clothes from his other arm, whisking them away to the dressing room, then coming back for more.

All four boys stared in appalled horror.

Sam shook his head sadly. "I'm never getting a girlfriend."

Bobby started rethinking his Lorna infatuation.

Piotr eyed Kitty up with a little bit of worry as she blissfully hauled Gambit around and allowed him to pick her clothes and sizes.

Sean grimaced. "I wonder how he got to be there."

Bobby shook his head. "I don't think we want to know."

In unspoken agreement, the four males called retreat and walked back to Sean's waiting car.

Piotr spoke for them all. "I think they sell those things online."

"Yeah!" the other three chorused.

* * *

Black 6th Play: bQd7

_The Black Queen moves forward one space to guard the King from the diagonal. Final position is in the seventh rank with the black pawns and just behind the bQB on the diagonal._

**Day One, 23rd Hour, 40th Minute**

Emma woke from a sound sleep to some interesting mental activity. Starting with Rogue. The girl was projecting again. The White Queen sighed and accepted that interference might be necessary and popped into Rogue' head.

Clothes.

She felt a small shock of surprise. She hadn't expected that, but Rogue was handling a certain lacy negligee and thinking about what would never be.

A small choke of fury crept up in Emma's stomach. That everyone here had _allowed _this _friend_ of _Emma's_ to feel she would _never_ have what the other girls took for granted...Why, it was indecent!

She did a quick scour for an open mind or two and started scrounging up ideas.

When Rogue noticed the terms of the bet, Emma was positively delighted. Excellent idea. She nudged the girl in the right direction. _Call Remy._ She did it subtlely. Didn't want Rogue to know what she was up to.

Then she sat and listened in.

"Gambit." His voice was matter-of-fact as always, but this time, it held a hint of real irritation.

Emma felt like clobbering him, but realized that she'd have little opportunity to do so, so settled for planning an extra special field trip for him to take the younger kids on.

"Remy?" Rogue asked.

As if she didn't know who she called. Emma had forgotten why she stopped eavesdropping growing up, but it was all starting to come back.

A long silence ensued. Just when she thought Gambit wasn't going to speak at all, he did.

"_Chere_. You're cute and all, but phone sex at midnight isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Gambit!" Rogue responded.

Emma laughed. He was perfect. Break her right out of that funk.

"What do you _want_?" he demanded with enough growl in his voice to compete with Logan.

Emma instantly evicted the thought. Logan was definitely in his own category of difficult.

"Could you sleep?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"Could I sleep?" Remy repeated in absolute incredulity.

"Could he sleep?" Emma repeated to herself in absolute incredulity. What kind of a line was that? Of course, he could sleep! Emma herself had a hand in running him around that day!

"That is what I asked," Rogue said with some annoyance.

"Let me get this straight, _Chere_." His voice made it clear that he couldn't believe she was asking him. "We stay up 'til almost midnight on a school night playing poker, you wake me at a ridiculous hour this morning, haul me out of bed to make _your_ breakfast, drag me along to fifteen different stores, have me lug enough bags to make up _Logan's_ weight again, send me to the store at 10:00 at night to pick up _ice cream_, then wake me up from my well-deserved rest at nearly midnight again, and you're wondering if I could _sleep_?"

"Yes," Rogue whispered.

He gave a strangled groan. _"Est-ce que je pourrais dormir?"_ he muttered darkly to himself.

Emma decided to skip out on the rest of the conversation until something interesting happened. If she could just get in Gambit's head...

* * *

White 7th Play: wKBg2

_The white Kingside bishop moves forward one space along the diagonal in preparation for an open line of attack. Final board position is in between two pawns and katticorner to the active white knight._

**Day One, 3rd Hour, 3rd Minute**

She finally managed to start hearing good snippets at a ridiculous hour, but Remy was still up and in fact was now plotting himself. Apparently, he was also aware of Rogue's homicidal tendencies regarding interference and was trying to figure out a way around them.

Emma could have cheered. It was perfect. She started a little tapping in Kitty's mind to get her up and pushing Remy to go downstairs for coffee.

He didn't hear her.

So like a man.

His thoughts stayed stubbornly on his plan and then the words, _Who could I frame?_

_Frame?_

Oh no! Emma narrowed her eyes in his general direction. Oh, no you don't, you little rascal of a swamp rat!

She put Kitty soundly back to sleep and woke up Jubilee, the only girl she could be positive would eventually spill if Remy didn't. This was a matchmaking scheme, not a therapy session. There was no way Emma Frost, the White Queen, Chess Master, was going to allow someone else to take credit for all of her own and Remy's hard work. She was matchmaking _him_, not some unknown _framed_ wanna be.

Not if she had something to say about it.

Jubilee sent groggy agitated thoughts at the ceiling.

_Get up!_

* * *


	4. Castled Kings

A/N: I had a good day as far as the tendonitis (well, as good as it gets), and I'm sure you've already seen the ghastly results. This will be the last major post for _Spectator Sport_ unless there's reader outcry (cry loudly) due to my overwhelming need to follow number two of my notes to R and R. Simplifying to merely _All's Fair_ and _In Love and War_. Please enjoy this last installment.

**For exact day (in relation to the slavery) and time (in 24 hr military format) will be in bold at the top of each scene.**

* * *

**Green Peridot **(Thanks for the love on Emma. And I'd love to see your depiction of her sometime. And as for detention...Just don't tell. :grins:), **PhoenixCrystal** (I'm glad you like so much. If I screwed up on that last chess move, just let me know and I'll correct it. For ease of reading, well, just see note above.), **xXxShizxXx** (I love Emma too! Sorry for the slow update. See my profile on why.), **starlight2twilight** (Thank you! Thank you! I'm having a ball with Emma and Jubilee and Logan. So what can I say? I have favorites among the interfering "spectators".), **coup** **fatal** (I think you're amazing. Very nifty. I had a crazy time remembering where things were on the board to even _write_ this chapter. But thanks for all the support and patience, etc. while I pulled teeth just trying to get this thing done.), **RogueOnFire** (You're the sweetest! As for Emma, she hates eavesdropping because of _exactly_ what you said, she can't stop meddling, and also because she gets so crazy annoyed at them! LOL), **Laceylou76** (Ah, my favorite review for the chapter! I had fun with those poor boys, Gambit included, and humor writing grew on me with All's Fair. Not quite sure when I crossed over, but if Fritz is any indication, I did. LOL I'm enjoying Logan/Emma. As always, I develop things slowly, but hey, I've got 29 more days to figure this out, so I have room to maneuver. And Emma is a busybody, isn't she? :grins:)

* * *

**Important information about Chess:**

Chess is played on ranks and files. Ranks are numbered 1 - 8 from the White's back to the Black's back. Files are numbered a - h from the White's left to the White's right.

The Queens occupy the file of d and the Kings the file of e. Queenside pieces are on files a - d; Kingside pieces are on files e - h.

NOTATION:

b = black, w = white

Q = queenside (from player's perspective at start), K = kingside (from player's perspective at start)

Q = queen, K = king, R = rook, N = knight, B = bishop, no notation = pawn

[a]# = board position (file and rank) the piece moves to

[a]x# = means board file a pawn moves from while capturing and its final board position

x# = means board position a piece moves to while capturing

**Keep this in mind for reference, please!**

* * *

**Spectator Sport**

**-**

_All's fair in love and war._

_-_

**Chapter Four: **

**Castled Kings**

**-**

Castling is a chess move that protects the  
key players by hiding them behind other pieces.

-

_Castling is a special move consisting __of moving the king  
two squares towards a rook, then moving the rook  
onto the square over which the king crossed_.

_-_

Black 7th Play: O-O-O

_Black castles Queenside. Final board position has the Black King on b8 at the back of the board and the black Queenside rook on c8 next to it._

**Day Two, 7th Hour, 12th Minute**

Jubilee was in place. More specifically, she was in the door of the pet shop a mere five minutes after it had opened, though she did wonder a bit about the 7:07 start time. Really, was it so hard for a store to open _on the hour_ instead of at these weird times like four after or six before?

She shook her head to clear it and made a beeline for the cats. Remy had suggested a kitten, due to Jubilee remembering Rogue preferred cats to dogs, and a kitten she would have.

There were about five of them chasing a ball of yarn, two curled up in little sleepy balls of fluff, one of them grooming herself, and another two chowing on breakfast.

Jubilee looked them over.

"Would you like to hold them?" a tall, lanky girl popping chewing gum asked around the strawberry smelling wad in her mouth. "Get a feel for which one you like?"

"Sure."

Jubilee handled each kitten one at a time until she settled on the quiet little grey one that had been napping on her approach. She got him everything she might need while she was there and then whisked him away to her car. Well, more like a rattle trap on wheels, but it got from point A to point B, so she wasn't complaining.

That was when she discovered her quiet little ball of fluff had a flaw.

"Ow!"

She stared at the long, red mark up her arm and then the tangled snag on her sweater, then finally gave a narrow-eyed glare at the stretching paws with tiny little white claws unsheathed.

"You naughty—"

Her lecture was cut short by soft mewing and him burrowing his face into her sweater. She softened. He was a cute little thing. She sighed, counting her shirt as a loss and deciding Rogue could handle the problem on her own.

A little forewarning might be in order though.

She whisked the little fellow back into the mall and into the pet store.

"Back so soon?" The clerk eyed the purring furball. "Um...We don't usually do returns."

"No need," Jubilee said royally. "I just need a different tag."

"Oh, sure thing." The clerk got right on it, snapping her gum with a pop. "What'll it be?"

"Scratch."

* * *

White 8th Play: O-O

_White castles Kingside. Final board position has the White King hidden behind its fianchettoed Kingside bishop and next to its Kingside rook._

**Day Two, 15th Hour, 17th Minute**

"Do you remember when we played chess with Mr. Lensherr," Storm began, "and he couldn't figure out how I won?"

"You?" Emma arched an eyebrow. "Queen of the Winds and never the chess board?"

They giggled together as Emma moved another piece. Storm was an awful chess player as a teenager, completely baffled by the game. As it turned out, Emma had taught Storm enough to make her quite the master to beat by the time they graduated. Now, they played comfortably together, sprawled across a blanket on the floor of Storm's bedroom with the chess board, chips, and a couple of bottles of tequila. It was their time to be friends again, hang out, be comfortable in their own skins without all the cares of running Xavier's School for the Gifted.

In short, girl time.

Storm shook her head. "He never thought you'd use telepathy to help me." Then she snickered. "Remember when we spiked Scott's coffee?"

Emma snickered back.

The two laughed and chatted over shared memories of friends, classes, and a history that wouldn't quite go away despite Emma's temporary defection to the Hellfire Club.

Emma won the first game but downed almost twice as much tequila. Storm had the advantage going in to rematch.

"Why did Jean always get the guys?" Emma demanded, absently moving into a King's Indian defense. "I mean, she got Scott, Logan..."

"Logan and her weren't together," Storm replied and responded with a Four Pawns Attack. "She preferred Scott."

"But Scott preferred her!" Emma protested. "What was it she had? I don't understand it." She shook her head at the board. She took another swig. "Remember when we turned on the ceiling fan with Hank still on it?"

Storm rolled at _that_ memory. Emma broke out into giggles. No one had ever seen that much blue fur go flying—or such an expression on his and the Professor's face. Jean had been in on it and between two telepaths protecting the student body's thoughts, Professor Xavier was unable to determine the exact culprit, only that a telepath was involved.

"See," Storm panted out. "Jean wasn't that bad."

Emma shrugged, still laughing. "Of course, we were all cleaning out the gutters for a week!"

Finally, the two women caught their breath.

Just then, a low, whining sound broke the silence.

Storm perked up. "What was that?"

Emma shrugged casually, even though her senses went on full alert and she started desperately thinking of a cover. Rogue really needed to learn to control that kitten's bad timing and Remy seriously needed to get a handle on what was and was not a good way to cheer the girl up. Pets were out. Why was _she_ always responsible for making the other side's plans pan out? She sighed.

Emma opted for distraction.

She moved a bishop into position. "Check."

"What?" Storm stared wildly at the board.

_Success_.

* * *

Black 8th Play: bQBh3

_The black Queenside bishop moves solidly into White's territory along the diagonal. Final position is katticorner to White's fianchettoed Kingside bishop._

**Day Two, 19th Hour, 30th Minute**

Logan carefully evaluated the stats from the morning's Danger Room session with Rogue. He had the computer set to constantly monitor his own health levels and had managed to teach it how to guage her absorption. She'd been absorbing at a ridiculous rate all morning. The slightest touch created that tug on him. If he could just hook up a monitor for the psychic aspect. Hmmm...

The simplest and most complicated problem when dealing with Rogue's mutation was knowing how much was physical and how much mental. What _exactly_ was she absorbing?

The sound of giggling girls broke into his concentration. He ignored it.

Sometimes, with only a small contact, he felt like his body would start to drain. Other times, when she pulled harder or touched longer, he found himself feeling like his whole soul was being pulled from his body. There had to be something to that.

"Flowers!"

"Roses..."

The girlish sighs intruded annoyingly again.

He slammed down the papers on his desk and stepped out into the hall where Siryn was pointing out how to get to the girls dormitory to a neatly pressed flower boy carrying a dozen longstem roses in a vase. Logan crossed his arms and pinned the nearest female with a glare, namely Rahne.

"Who are they for?" he demanded.

She turned dreamy eyes on him. "Rogue."

Rogue! Logan dropped his arms to the side and immediately stalked after the boy with the flowers. He glimpsed Kitty rushing toward the bathroom, pause, wheel around, and rush back toward her bedroom, phasing into the wall. Let her warn Rogue. He didn't care.

He had eyes only for the roses.

* * *

_The demarcation between the opening and middlegame is not always clear.  
In it, players will attempt to strengthen their positions while weakening their opponent's,  
both by careful arrangement of the pieces for prepared attacks and defenses  
and by whittling away at their opponent's numbers._

* * *

White 9th Play: wKBh3

_The white Kingside bishop captures the black Queenside bishop. Final board position is katticorner to the White King._

**Day Two, 20th Hour, 22nd Minute**

She told him off.

Rogue had told Logan off, informing him bluntly that if he didn't claim fatherhood in any form or fashion then he could just bud out of her love life.

Needless to say, he was hammering out some poor virtual bad guys in the Danger Room and Emma was left trying to create the appropriate mental blocks to his projections while still allowing in the traces she got off of Rogue.

Storm started winning.

"Ugh!" Emma eyed the chess board with distaste. "He's projecting again!"

Storm giggled. She didn't often do such things with her enormous dignity to uphold, but the tequila certainly helped. "Logan?"

"Who else?" Emma groaned and moved a pawn.

Storm shrugged. "Oh, hang on a sec!" She clambered to her feet. "You have got to see these shoes I found for Kitty's birthday!"

Emma gladly gave up the game and turned her attention on the mounds of footware being relocated from the bottom of Storm's closet until she finally reappeared triumphantly with a bag from Saks. Storm held up a pair of strappy gold sandals that perfectly matched Kitty's latest and greatest new look in short, strappy dresses and Emma nearly shrieked.

"I got her those shoes!"

Storm visibly deflated. "And here I thought I was being original," she muttered.

Emma got to her feet, grabbed the shoes, and looked them over again. "We have to go back out. She can't get two pairs for her birthday." She groaned. "I'll have to get someone to drive us."

"Logan," Storm suggested, her eyes dancing with mischief.

Emma narrowed her eyes in return. "Hardly." She sniffed.

"Oh, come on." Storm dragged her friend out the door, into the hallway, and caught a hold of Dazzler. "We need to go make an exchange. Emma already got Kitty these shoes." She held up the sandals. "Do you know where Logan is?"

Dazzler shrieked. "You didn't!"

Great. Could this get any worse?

Rahne's eyes widened. "So did I," she whispered.

"That's it!" Emma threw up her hands. "I'm going to get Logan."

She marched down to the Danger Room, viciously ended the program, and stormed in on the bewildered shirtless Logan (what was it with guys and their shirts anyway?) with a dignity to rival Storm's.

"Emma?"

"Remy's got the day off and I need a ride to Saks with the girls. We all got Kitty the same pair of shoes." She stated her need bluntly, figuring that was the only way he'd understand the enormity of the situation. "A girl cannot have four identical gifts on her birthday."

Logan stared at her in exasperation and annoyance. "Now?"

Emma tapped her foot impatiently. "No. Wednesday. The day of the party. Of course, _now!_"

And that was how he found himself at the mall at 9:00, then 9:30, then 9:45, then 9:55 on a Saturday night, praying for perhaps the first time in his life for an escape route from a battle he didn't know how to fight, wishing the clerks knew how to disband the Amazons involved before somebody got hurt.

The fight in which seven females of varying ages decided who got to give Kitty _the_ shoes.

* * *


End file.
